Give me children or I shall die
Subtitle: children and communal survival in biblical literature
By: Laurel W. Koepf Taylor
Series: Emerging scholars; Emerging scholars
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Minneapolis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 153
ISBN-13: 9781451465631; 9781451469790
Subjects: Bible; Children in the Bible; Criticism, interpretation; Cross-cultural studies; Children; History
Description: "In the subsistence agricultural social context of the Hebrew Bible, children were necessary for communal survival. In such an economy, children's labor contributes to the family's livelihood from a young age, rather than simply preparing the child for future adult work. Ethnographic research shows that this interdependent family life contrasts significantly with that of privileged modern Westerners for whom children are dependents. In this volume, Laurel Koepf-Taylor looks beyond the dominant cultural constructions of childhood in the modern West and the moral rhetoric that accompanies them. In doing so, Koept-Taylor seeks to uncover what biblical texts intend to communicate when they utilize children as literary tropes in their own social, cultural, and historical context."--Page 4 of cover.
Notes: Originally presented as the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Union Theological Seminary, New York, N.Y., 2012.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-144) and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Biblical children, biblical childhoods --; title: Interpreting (in)fertility --; title: The value of education and enculturation --; title: The child and the community at risk --; title: Conclusion.